


Under Grey Skies

by Kariliah



Category: Linkin Park
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/M, Family Fluff, Fluff, Fluff without Plot, One Shot Collection, Romantic Fluff, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, as fluffy as Mike's hair, pre quarantine
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-14
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:46:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25901539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kariliah/pseuds/Kariliah
Summary: Fluffy ShinodaxShinoda quarantine One Shots.
Relationships: Anna Shinoda/Mike Shinoda
Comments: 6
Kudos: 6





	1. Good Old Days

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Good Old Days, or: Mike's kids learn the truth about their father.

_March 2020_

“Hey Babe!” Without looking up, Anna greeted her husband as soon as she heard the door to her study open. “Wanna help me?”

“Sure!” He agreed right away, even though he didn’t know yet what she was up to, sitting on the large carpet surrounded by a handful of boxes, Misty sleeping in the corner of the room, pretending to be guarding her. The day had been really productive so far and now that he was content with the beats he’d created earlier and the kids were playing in their rooms he thought it would’ve been foolish to stay in the studio but instead had decided to join his wife for a bit.

“Great!” Sitting down next to her he immediately got handed one of the boxes. “I thought about putting some of them in photo albums. Or maybe just write something on the back of each one, I’m not sure yet.”

“Mm-hmm. _February ’99- June ’00_ ”, Mike read what was written on the label on top of the box in Anna’s small handwriting. “Oh god!”

“What?” Looking up to him, Anna didn’t even try to hide her smile. “Scared, Shinoda?”

“To be honest?” He paused before carefully taking off the lid. “Yes.”

“Come on, you were cute back then!” While she was laughing as she pulled out the first picture, Mike sensed the distinctive feeling of discomfort that only ever overcame him when greeted by his younger, rainbow-haired self. “Look at how squishy your cheeks were!”

“Does that mean I’m not cute anymore?” With a wide grin he plucked the picture from her grip and held it next to his face, knowing his expression was the same joyful one right now. After all, Anna had been the one behind the camera.

“You are-“, her sentence was interrupted by her breaking out in laughter as Mike tried his best to convince her with puppy eyes that would make even Misty jealous, “-a different kind of cute now. _Old man_ -cute.” Which didn’t stop her from placing a quick kiss on his cheek, only for Mike to drop the picture and instead wrap his arms around Anna and pull her towards him.

“Old man?” He repeated her words before he started tickling her and placed kisses all over Anna’s face as she tried to escape him to no avail. “Stay here, old lady!”

“You even have grey hair!” Between giggles and trying to catch her breath, Anna reminded him of a fact Mike was trying hard to ignore. Which had turned out to be a little difficult as it had become one of their girls’ favorite hobbies to _style_ his hair and point out every single grey hair they found in the process of doing so.

“I know, I know, I’m getting old and wrinkly”, he sighed and let Anna settle between his legs, her back resting against his chest, his arms still wrapped around her.

“I’m getting old and wrinkly with you.” As if she wanted to emphasize her words, Anna fiddled with her wedding ring before pulling the next picture from the box. “I don’t even remember where these were taken.”

“I do, I think”, Mike explained with a smirk, taking the picture of somewhat-red-haired him and the one of Anna wearing one of her black dresses and shyly smiling at the camera in one hand. “If I remember correctly, that was right before a show and you’d brought a camera along to take some pictures of us.” To prove his point, he pulled out the next picture which showed Rob not being amused about the attention he was getting. Followed by one that showed off Brad’s posing skills. “But I stole the camera because, you know, I thought you were a way prettier motif than any of us.” Even now that she wasn’t wearing her goth make-up (or any at all) and the stress and sorrow of the past couple of years had left their traces on her face, she was still the most beautiful person on the planet to him. And no matter how much time had passed, he was still losing himself in her big, dark eyes that told more stories than words ever could. Anna was fascinating inside and outside, and looking back at the pictures from when they were much younger, he just got another reminder that his love for her had grown over the years with every single good memory they had made, every obstacle they had to overcome and every tragedy they had faced together. “And that hasn’t changed.”

“See? Still cute.” Anna turned towards him for a quick kiss before looking at the picture once again. “Was I wearing the fangs?”

“Looks like it.” It wasn’t possible to tell for sure since the quality of the picture wasn’t the best but there was a high chance that she was right. Which meant that the boys had teased Mike the following day for _having sex with a vampire_ since Anna had always made sure they knew what they’d been up to. Even though it had turned out to be impossible to actually bite him with them, that certainly hadn’t stopped her from trying, usually resulting in her sucking on the sensitive skin of his neck until she’d left a hickey for everyone to see. And while he’d always blushed when the others had noticed, he still hadn’t asked her to stop but had instead made sure to get his revenge the following night. “You should wear them again.”

“How would I explain that to the kids?” Anna laughed, taking a couple more pictures into her hands.

“I’m sure they’d love it.” Still, she didn’t sound convinced about it.

“Abba would probably think they’re cat teeth and demand to have ones as well.”

“True!” Mike laughed as he rested his head on Anna’s shoulder, trying not to cringe at the next questionable hair color – something between green and blue – he was confronted with.

“How’d you do that with your face?” Anna burst out into laughter as she came across a picture of Mike making a funny face. “I feel like I’m lacking he muscles to do that!”

“Come on, you aren’t bad at this either!” He chuckled as he handed her the picture that showed her somewhat failed attempt of copying him. Followed by a picture of his own face again, this time likely taken by himself and not Anna considering half of his face was outside the frame. Then Anna again, laughing too much already for pulling a face.

“We looked so happy.” Annas voice got quiet as she took the next picture of the series from the box. Still taken by Mike, it showed the two of them trying to kiss while they were still laughing. Then she’d turned her face away from him, just slightly, so that the next kiss had landed on her cheek. And then – It was hard to tell, since Mike had obviously decided there were more important things to do than snapping pictures, resulting in this one being one big blur. “We _were_ so happy.”

“We’re still happy!” Mike ensured her and shifted a bit so that he could take his phone out of the pocket. “A different kind of happy maybe, but still happy.” Placing a kiss on her cheek, he took a picture of the two of them, relieved when he heard Anna chuckle.

“Of course, and we can finally get decent pictures of ourselves.” Much to Mike’s surprise she turned a bit so that she could kiss him properly and a little longer than it was necessary to take a picture. “Or not.”

“Sorry, Boo.” Mike buried his face in the crook of her neck as she examined the selfie he’d just taken of them which was just as blurry as the one from 20 years ago. And just like back then, Mike couldn’t mind less ass he was busy trailing his lips over her skin, stopping every now and then for a gentle kiss.

“What are you up to?” Briefly opening one eye, Mike was content to find that she’d abandoned both his phone and the pictures, instead running a hand through his hair and pulling him closer, certainly not minding his change of her plans.

“Making you happy”, he whispered in her ear, not yet having decided how far he wanted to take thing. For now, he just enjoyed holding her close and kissing her as if nothing else on the world mattered. As if it was just the two of them.

And the small footsteps running up to the door, forcing them to let go of one another as a small human joined them in the room.

“Mommy, tell Abba the blue unicorn is mine!”

“Did she ask you if she could play with it?” Anna got up and stroked their daughters head as she stopped in front of them, sulking.

“She did! I said no!”

“Were you playing with it?”, Mike chimed in, hoping that this wouldn’t end with him and Anna having to sort another fight between the twins who – unlike Otis – had certainly inherited both of their tempers.

“No, I played Barbie!”, she explained, a second before her sister joined them.

“Daddy, tell Jojo to let me play with the unicorn!”

“No, it’s mine!”

“Kids!” Using her stern voice, Anna held up her index finger to reduce the twins’ bickering to glares. “Why don’t you just play together?”

“I was playing Barbie!” Jojo pointed at herself with both hands before stretching out her arms in a dramatic gesture to point at her sister. “She wasn’t.”

“I was playing unicorns!”

“But the blue unicorn is mine!”

“Kids!”, was it now Mike’s turn to interrupt them. “Why can’t Barbie visit Unicorn-land?”

“That’s stupid, daddy!” At least they were agreeing on something again…

“Why don’t you two go get your brother and we’ll all look through some old pictures instead?” Anna’s suggestion got the girls to exchange a happy glance before storming out of the room, followed by Misty who thought they were chasing after something and didn’t want to miss out on it.

“Maybe we should put these away, don’t you think?” Mike pointed at the boxes dated prior to 2003.

“Come on, this is going to be fun!” Laughing at his irrational fear of old pictures, she sat back down next to him, playfully nudging his knee. “I’m sure they’ll enjoy seeing you with rainbow hair.”

“Yeah, maybe it’s time for them to learn the truth about their father!” With a long, dramatic sigh, Mike pulled the box towards him that was labelled as _March ’98-January ’99_ , looking forward to reliving the time when he and Anna first started dating.

“Come on, it’s just hair dye!” Opening the box for him, Anna smiled at him and he had to admit that she was probably right. Besides, the kids already knew a bit about the early days of the band, meaning they’d already gotten the chance to laugh at his terrible style choices.

“Come on, hurry up!” While the girls stormed back into the room, their brother was far less enthusiastic about it, making sure to take his time closing the door and telling Misty to go back to her place before sitting down on the floor with the rest of the family.

“What’s the matter? These two said I should come here.”

“We’re gonna look at-”

“Pictures!” The girls both raised their arms in joy before cuddling up against their parents while Otis simply raised an eyebrow at them, forcing Mike to hold back a laughter.

“But Mom, Dad, I was just about to finish my new Lego!” After the piano recital a week ago he’d gotten a little pocket money from all relatives they’d invited, and he’d promptly invested it in the Lego Star Wars ship he’d been talking about for weeks.

“Who cares!” Abba declared, causing her father to briefly scold her, before reaching for the box that was open in front of her. “This is more interesting!”

“It’s not.” He pushed up his glasses a little further, pretending not to be interested in the picture his sister was hiding from him but still trying to get a glance of it.

“Whoa, look at this!” Excitedly pointing at the picture, she leaned over to her sister, the two of them now happily taking sides against their older brother. “Is this Uncle Brad?”

“Not quite”, Mike laughed before patting the floor next to him. “Come here, Bear, and take a look as well.”

“No!” As soon as she saw her brother shift, Abba handed the picture over to her sister who was the furthest away from him. “You said it’s not interesting!”

“Go build your Lego!” Supporting her sister, Jojo stretched her arm out in the direction of the door, causing Mike and Anna to exchange amused glances.

“Kids!” It was hard to be strict with them when they all were acting like they were stuck in some Shakespearian tragedy, Jojo still holding the picture hidden while pointing at Abba who opened the door wide and Otis lying on the floor, pretending his sisters weren’t there. “Abba, come back here!”

“Okay, who do you think it is?” And just like them the three of them were one heart and soul again, putting their heads together and staring at the picture.

“It looks like Uncle Brad.” Taking off his glasses, Otis held the picture closer to his face. “No wait, that’s Uncle Rob! What the fuck?”

“Language!”, Anna reminded him as Mike was too busy laughing over the fact even his kids couldn’t keep his friends apart.

“Sorry, Mom!”

“But that’s Uncle Brad, right?” Handing Mike the next picture, Abba didn’t sound quite as certain anymore. “He’s playing with his guitar.”

“That’s Brad”, he confirmed, causing the girl and cheer and giver her siblings high-fives.

“I didn’t know Uncle Dave had hair!” Surprised by the unexpected discovery, Jojo excitedly pointed at the picture to show her siblings before turning to her mother with a frown. “What happened to it?”

“When some men get older, they start to lose their hair”, she explained, redoing the girl’s pigtails. “The same happened with Uncle Chaz, remember?”

“Yes, but Lily told me shaved it off?” She was thinking deeply for a moment before turning towards Mike and her brother in horror. “Daddy, are you going to lose your hair? And he too?”

“No, don’t you worry”, he ensured her much to her and Otis’ relief before taking the next picture out of the box, trying to maintain a straight face as he saw who was on it. “Do you know who this is?”

“No?” Once more, the three of them took the picture to examine it together, Mike and Anna exchanging amused glances. While they’d most certainly seen Mike with his colorful hair before, both of them were pretty sure that Anna’s style of choice in the late 90s was new to them.

“Who is it?” After a minute of discussion and not coming to a conclusion, Otis took the picture from his sisters and faced his parents that tried their best not to laugh at the confused faces of their kids. “We don’t know a vampire.”

“We don’t know a vampire!” Mike clapped his hands together as he burst out in laughter, not helping with clearing up the confusion at all and leaving it to Anna to help them figure out who the _vampire_ was.

“Yes, you do.” Staying serious was hard, especially when Mike was giggling next to her and the kids looked completely baffled by that information.

“Does Daddy know the vampire lady?” Jojo was the first to regain the ability to ask a question and this time it was Anna who started laughing.

“Pretty well, I’d say”, Mike nodded, stroking his face. “Inside out.”

“Huh?” Crooking her head to one side, Abba looked at him, suspiciously. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Have we met her before?” After polishing his glasses, Otis took another look at the picture. “She looks familiar.”

“You all have. Multiple times”, Anna added with a giggle, just like Mike trying not to burst out laughing again. “It’s not that hard.”

“Yes it is!” The kids disagreed with their mother, slowly running out of ideas, meaning it was once again Otis’ job to speak for the siblings. “Can we get some hints?”

“You’re related to her”, Anna informed them, amused by how they were unable to tell who they were looking at. The picture quality wasn’t the best and the amount of Make-up and the fangs certainly did make things harder, but she’d still thought they would figure it out a little faster.

“Does that mean we are wengckires ash weww?” Of course, Abba had to stick her fingers into her mouth to check if she had fangs, disappointed when she found her teeth still were the same as when she’d brushed them this morning.

“I like her”, Mike shrugged, having a hard time to hide his smile and avoided looking at Anna who was giggling behind her hands which made Otis a little suspicious. The twins, on the other hand, were still clueless.

“You do?”

“Yes, a lot actually.” The picture was once again handed around amongst the kids, the three of them whispering and exchanging guesses before slowly turning towards Anna.

“Is it Mommy?” Jojo got up to hold the picture next to Anna’s face looking back and forth between her mother and the _vampire lady._ “It’s Mommy, right?”

“Yes!” The three of them looked at Anna in disbelief. “That’s what I looked like when I met your Dad.”

“But why aren’t we vampires?” As soon as she’d figured out this detail of her mothers’ past, Abba frowned and crossed her arms in front of her chest. “That’s not fair.”

“She’s not a real vampire, dumbass.”

“Otis, language!”, Mike reminded him before pulling the next picture from the box. “Look, here’s a picture of Mommy without the vampire stuff!”

“Whoa! Mommy was so pretty!” The girls took the picture from him, staring at it in wonder.

“Mommy is still pretty!” Much to Otis’ dismay, Mike had to correct the girls, earning himself an amused glance from Anna.

“Back then she was a pretty vampire!” Jojo pointed at the picture before stretching her arms in Anna’s direction. “Now she’s a pretty fairy!”

“I understand.” Anna nodded and reached into the box again, sticking her tongue out at Mike without the kids noticing it so that he knew what was on the picture even before the kids had a chance to look at it.

“But Daddy looked really weird!” Since he wholeheartedly agreed with it, Mike couldn’t help but laugh at Abba’s comment. Some of his style choices really had turned out to be a bit…bizarre, to say the least.

“Yeah, what’s that on your head?” With a frown, Otis pointed at the hair that was once again dyed bright red and forced into its spikey form. “Who gave you that haircut, you should sue them!”

“Joe did!” Mike laughed and instantly had three surprised little humans staring at him. “And I cut his hair.”

“But why?!” The sheer horror and confusion in Otis’ voice prevented both him and Anna from a quick answer, as they both burst out laughing while the girls decided to raid the picture box in the meantime.

“Uncle Joe is way better at cutting hair! Look!” The boy got handed a picture showing Joe and Brad trying to set up the turntables.

“Wow, and I thought Dad’s haircut was bad.” Looking shocked yet again Mike thought it was a wise decision to not tell his kids that he’d been the one to cut their hair when they were toddlers. “Dad, please never cut someone’s hair ever again.”

“Is this Uncle Brad or Uncle Rob?” Jojo had taken out some new pictures, looking at them skeptically.

“I think it’s Uncle Rob.” Pointing at the drumsticks in his hands, Abba turned to her father for confirmation, clapping enthusiastically when he nodded.

“Where is Uncle Chaz?” Quickly flipping through the next pictures, the kids noticed that one bandmember was missing. “I thought he liked when people took pictures of him?”

“We didn’t know him back then”, Mike explained to them and reached for the box he and Anna had been looking through before the kids had showed up. “Do you want to see the first pictures we took with him?”

“Yes!” Being the skeptical one earlier, it was now Otis who enthusiastically leaned forward to look at the box. “Did he already have the flames on his arms when you met him?”

“Was he born with them?”

“No, he wasn’t, Abba.” Anna smiled at them as she watched the three of them excitedly waiting for their father to tell them stories about his best friend. Stories that happened what felt like a lifetime ago but still made both of them feel lighter inside whenever they were brought up.

“Ewww, love!” As soon as Mike opened the box and Otis saw the picture of his parents kissing which Anna had placed on top the others, he pretended to gag and looked away quickly. Which of course was Mike and Anna’s cue to kiss, much to the displeasure of their son.

“Yes, love!” And much to the joy of Abba who clapped enthusiastically before quietly humming the song Chester had often sung to the army of kids when on tour.

“Can we hear stories about Uncle Chaz, please?” And then there was Jojo, who grabbed as many of the pictures as she could and handed them over to her father before crawling back to her mother, who’d rested her head against Mike’s shoulder.

“Everyone ready?” As soon as he’d found the picture taken on their first night out as a band, Mike waited until everyone was comfortable, Abba was no longer fidgeting around, and it was time for him to tell stories of the good old days.

Stories of how they traveled the world together, broke hotel room tables, played tricks on one another and made each other laugh a billion times over almost twenty years.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!


	2. Night Owl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Night Owl, or: Mike doesn’t get enough sleep and Anna isn’t helping.

_August 2020_

22:30.

Mike blinks slowly and pinches the bridge of his nose, before he looks at the ciphers at the top of his phone one more time. How did it get so late so quickly? To him it feels like it hasn't been longer than an hour since he and Anna had taken the kids to bed and he'd sneaked off to his studio with a glass of rum.

Now, the ice in it is molten, has mixed itself with the alcohol to a watered down and slightly too warm drink the drain would enjoy more than he does, which he decides after taking a sip of it.

But, ruined drink aside, the track he's been working on is almost done now, and Anna hasn’t even showed yet to remind him (once again) that it is way past his bedtime.

He wonders what she is up to right now, probably playing Animal Crossing or, so he hopes, working on her novel that might be done by the time the next album is ready to be released. Or maybe she is chasing after naughty kids who don’t want to stay in bed, he thinks with a smile.

He would join her in a minute, but for now he needs something, a little distraction, to bring his brain fully back into reality. YouTube isn’t an option, as he would always find himself watching the weirdest videos after a few minutes and doesn’t plan on learning about a new fetish today. Twitter is out of question and Instagram filled with too many staged posts in his opinion. Which only leaves him with the option of Twitch.

He yawns as he waits for the chat to load and rubs his eyes one more time, realizing once again that he starts being a bit too old for being up all night. Especially with three little ones in the house, who can and will jump onto their parents' bed (him) if Mike isn't up in time. And no matter how deep his sleep is at night – Anna would still joke about the time she’d have to smack him with a pillow the night Abba and Jojo were born because yelling at him to wake up just wouldn’t work – there’s something about a kid or two throwing themselves onto his stomach that gets him out of bed really quickly. At least the kids let him take a nap in the afternoon since they’ve figured out that sleeping Dad can’t take their Nintendos away.

By now the chat has noticed he's there, as his screen slowly but surely starts filling up with tons of messages. Some of them asking how and what he's doing, some simply greeting him. And some yelling the most random stuff in caps only.

While he does enjoy chatting with the fans, there is something about constantly getting yelled at that starts being exhausting after a while. Especially if there's no message, just big letters that scream NOTICE ME! Again and again, as if it's not good enough for them when he treats them like any other fan. Still, he contemplates talking to the chat for a while, as the majority knows how to behave and even expresses their gratitude for him paying them a visit late at night.

"Mike?" It's silent in the studio, his focus is on what to type, and thanks to his headphones he only notices Anna's presence when she leans on the back of his chair. "What are you doing?"

"You know", he takes off his headphones and briefly looks at her, before paying attention to what's happening on the screen once again, "thought about paying them a short visit."

"Mhm." Anna leans forward a bit more, so that her head almost touches his and she’s able to read the messages that are now flying across the screen. "I'm impressed you can read that."

"What do you mean?" Mike chuckles, even though he knows exactly what Anna's problem is.

"It moves way too quickly and look, someone's caps lock broke!" She points at the screen and Mike immediately starts laughing, repeating her last words while Anna continues with her judgement of the chat. "Again? Doesn't their head hurt from yelling all the time?"

"It might." Turning to her with a grin, Mike notices that Anna is frowning, her lips pressed together tightly, a clear sign she's about to say something that's definitely not suitable for kids' ears. Which is why he decides to turn off the chat for now and change the topic. "I'm almost done with the song I showed you the other day."

"Really?" And just like that, her smile is back, the one that looks almost like a smirk and he loves so much. Even after all these years together and unfinished songs he’s shown her, she still gets excited for him every time. "So no more late nights for now?"

"Hmm." Leaning forward, he switches off all electronics that are still turned on, before standing up to stretch until his back feels somewhat normal again and wrapping his arms around Anna. "Not sure. Did you get any writing done tonight?"

"I did!" She looks up at him, one hand placed on his chest and playing with the cords attached to his hoodie. "I think I could've easily written another thousand words."

"Then why are you here?"

"To remind you", letting go of his hoodie for a moment, she uses her index finger to point at his chest, "it's bedtime."

"But I'm not tired yet!", he complains jokingly and ruffles her already messy hair before placing a kiss on top of her head.

"Well, me neither." With a wink, Anna grabs both cords of the hoodie and gently pulls on them, which is his signal to lean down and kiss her properly this time.

"Guess that means the late nights aren’t over." And maybe, Mike thinks to himself as he picks Anna up, one more night of staying up late doesn't even sound that bad after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading 1000 words, dedicated to all the times Nightbot gave me a timeout for using caps. LUL


	3. Afternoon Martinis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Afternoon Martinis, or: Mike decides to take pictures of Anna.

_14 th of July, 2020_

“Hello, lady friend.” Closing the door behind himself with his elbow, Mike smiled at Anna who was crouched over a pile of paper and holding the pencil Abba had picked for her when they had gone shopping for school supplies. Anna was moving the tip of it along word by word, stopping every once in a while to cross something out or take a few notes, a process would take her weeks if not months. A patience that Mike both admired understood unlike anyone else as he knew himself how important it was to find just the right word. “Your distraction’s here!”

“Hmm?” Finally realizing she wasn't alone anymore, Anna took off her headphones and looked up at him. “Do you need anything?” _You,_ he thought to himself but instead handed one of the classes he'd been carrying over to her.

“I thought you might want a little drink?”

“Oh, what did you bring me?” Inspecting her drink for a second was enough for her to figure out what he’d brought her. His huge grin however was also a giveaway. “Afternoon Martinis?”

“Yes”, he laughed with a nod, clearly proud of his idea, before pushing the second chair in the office over to her desk and sitting down next to Anna. “Cheers.”

“Cheers!” With a wink Anna tipped her glass against Mike’s and took a sip of her drink. “Mmm. Good job!”

“Coming from my favorite bartender.” He downed about half of his drink before pointing at her paper piles. “How’s work going?”

“You know”, she shrugged and took another sip of her drink, “it takes time. I'm not as fast as you when it comes to creating something.”

“That's because you write a whole-ass novel and don’t just mess around with words”, he reassured her. “And don't forget about all the short stories you've written since the beginning of quarantine. And the stories you tell the kids when they don’t want us to read something to them but instead ask for _a story from Mommy_ at night.”

“I guess you're right.” She smiled into her drink, almost shyly, which reminded him of the way she’d reacted to compliments about her appearance when they’d first started dating over two decades ago. “And I did get some work done today, look!” It wasn’t hard to tell how proud she was of her achievement when she put down her Martini, browsed through the pile of paper and lifted some pages off it.

“Not bad!”, Mike noted with a nod of approval. Knowing just how much she liked to question every single word she’d written she was still a lot faster at editing than Mike had originally thought was possible. Even years later he still remembered his wife’s amused reaction when his jaw had quite literally dropped it all the notes she'd managed to fit on one page.

“Oh, by the way, did you find a better way to describe this one dude?” The day before she'd been lost in thoughts and – and thesaurus – all day long. Even late at night when she’d been snuggled up against him and he'd started to doze off, he'd still noticed her mind was still in the office, obsessing over a few lines.

“Not quite.” Anna pointed at one of the post-its that was sticking out of her pile. “But I do think _atrocious_ is a good word to describe him.”

“Oh, wow!” He couldn't help but chuckle before switching to his old-timey voice. “What a lovely word to describe a gentleman with such devious intentions.”

“Well, at the end of the day there is still good in his heart.” Anna tried to bite back her laughter as she answered in the same tone.

“Oh my, what an entertaining story you have in front of you! The world will be truly blessed when it is released upon it, Dear.”

“It doesn't sound genuine if you say it like that.” Changing her voice back to normal, Anna raised an eyebrow at him.

“True”, Mike admitted and raised his free hand as he continued. “However, I really think the story you’re telling with this one is great, and I can't wait to celebrate the release with you.”

“The good thing about editing taking a while is that by the time I'm done, we’ll hopefully be able to actually celebrate and not just sit in my office and drink Martinis at three in the afternoon.” To which she took another sip of her drink while Mike thought that it really would be nice if she got the celebration she deserved for the novel.

“See it's not a problem that you need some time for the editing. Besides, I wouldn’t mind spending all of my afternoons drinking Martinis with you.” Leaning over her gave her a quick kiss. “Mmm, much better when coming from my favorite bartender.”

“Mike!” Anna rolled her eyes at him and poked his arm but didn't even try to hide her smile from him. “I'm glad I could improve your drink?”

“Mhm.” He swallowed the rest of his drink before setting the glass down on a desk and leaning over in Anna’s direction. “And I'm glad you didn't rip the jam to shreds earlier.”

“Hey, you did a great job considering you didn't have the instruments you needed for it.” She met his questioning glance with a sincere smile. “I really enjoyed it. Thank you.” Resting her head on one hand, she couldn't help but reach for the indent the headphones had left with the other. Carefully she ran her fingers through his hair, a little smile on her lips as she noticed his dark eyes looking for hers.

“You're beautiful”, he whispered as if he didn't want anyone but her to hear it. What good was it to let the world know, when it only mattered to him to let her know again and again just how much he loved and admired her. That he was the luckiest man alive to have her by his side, have her look at him with that wonderful smile that made her eyes sparkle. “I have an idea.”

“What about?” She tilted her head backwards as he got up and pulled his phone out of the pocket.

“Taking pictures”, he explained before adding with a smile: “Of you.”

“Oh no!” Still laughing, Anna hid her face behind her hands, which didn't stop Mike from snapping a picture of her. “I've been up and running all day. Let me at least fix my hair.”

“I'll help you”, Mike decided as Anna got up from her chair and walked up to her husband. “What does the lady want?”

“Not look like a scarecrow, maybe?” While Anna was giggling, Mike frowned judgingly.

“I thought that was the latest quarantine trend?” Starting by putting pulling the hair tie off her ponytail, Mike used his fingers to comb through Anna's hair and made sure to let his fingertips linger on her scalp just a little longer than necessary as he knew just how much she loved getting massages. “I think I'm done.” Adding the finishing touches by tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, he gently grabbed Anna by the shoulders to turn her a bit in order to view the result from different angles. “Yes, I like it.”

“Yeah, not bad.” Anna had now grabbed her phone from the desk and was using the camera as substitute mirror. “However, I still don't regret not letting you cut my hair”, she added with a wink.

“Hey, I'm not that bad at it!” Admittedly, pointing at his own had wasn't necessarily the best proof of it.

“I know some nine-year-olds that can do that” Anna remarked with a smirk and ran her hand through the now once again longer hair on top of his head. “I still think you look better like this.”

“Why, thank you, Milady.”

“You're welcome.” Anna smiled at him and stood on her tiptoes to steal a kiss from him, before asking about his plans again. “All right, what do you want me to do?”

“Well…” He laughed and stretched the word long enough to earn himself a scandalized look from his wife. “Pictures first. Unless…”

“Mike!” Laughing, she shook her head at him. “Then what did you even do my hair for if you knew you’d mess it up again right away?”

“You know I like playing with it”, he shrugged and pointed at her chair. “Okay, sit down and pretend you're working.”

“This is going to look so staged!” Still, Anna did as requested and picked her pencil back up, even wrote down some notes while Mike was looking at her through the camera.

“Hmm.” He moved around a bit as he felt the angle wasn't quite right. “Can you lift your head a little? Thanks.”

“Maybe I should put on the glasses?” Even on days she wore contacts her glasses were usually within reach, whereas Mike’s just waited in the drawer next to the bed for him to get pinkeye again. “I mean, we could try.”

“You don't sound convinced.” Looking back and forth between the glasses and her husband Anna realized why he was hesitant. “You think they won't fit in?”

“Kinda.” He admitted before pointing out the problem. “Your color palette is basically all pastel and the glasses are dark blue.”

“I get you.” Anna laughed and put the glasses back in their case. “Any other ideas then?”

“Actually, yes.” Now that she was looking up at him, head rested on the back of her hands, he decided it was time for a change. “We do need to get rid of the serious setting.”

“Oh?” Clearly interested in his idea, she raised one eyebrow slightly before getting up and walking around the desk to him. “Okay. So what do you want me to do now?”

“Take off the dress”, he claimed with a straight face became harder to maintain as Anna first looked at him in disbelief before starting to laugh and holding on to Mike.

“That’s for later”, she whispered, glancing up briefly from beneath her eyelashes and changing the topic so quickly that it was now Mike who was left speechless for a moment. “What if I just sit down on the floor with some sheets around me?”

“Uhm.” Blinking a few times to get pleasant images out of his head and focus on what was real again, Mike turned his attention back to Anna, who’d already taken paper and pencil to the edge of the room. “Good idea.”

“Is this okay?” Holding most of the paper in one hand and leaving the rest of the pile next to her, Anna looked at Mike who sat down on the floor in front of her.

“Hmm.” He waited for Anna to pretend to be working before taking a few pictures of her. “It still looks way too serious.”

“Hold on, let me put on my clown mask”, she chuckled before agreeing with him. “Maybe it helps if I spread paper a bit?”

“I mean, we could try? No, leave it closer to you. Otherwise, it will be out of frame.” Since he could check the camera, Mike decided to give her some instructions. “And try to look a little more relaxed. I think th- Anna!” He shook his head with laughter as Anna lay down on top of the scattered sheets and pretended to be asleep.

“Relaxed enough?” Taking another look at her through the camera, Mike decided that even though she was just messing with him, her idea was actually genius.

“This is perfect!” He exclaimed, to which Anna opened her eyes in confusion, unable to tell if he was joking or not. “Really?”

“Hmm.” Nodding quickly before leaning forward, Mike placed the pencil in her hands and started taking pictures while she smiled at him. “I think captures the essence of getting lost in the story you want to tell much better than just sitting in front of the paper.”

“May I take a look?” Without getting up Anna extended one arm in Mike’s direction and reached for his phone.

“Lazy?” And of course, he had to hold it out of her reach.

“Oh come on!” Before Mike realized Anna had no plans of staying on her paper, she’d already jumped up and snatched the phone from his grip.

“Hey!” Determined to get his phone back he got up while Anna was already unlocking his phone. But she didn’t have much time to look at the pictures as she was forced to press the phone to her body as soon as Mike had wrapped his arms around her from behind and was trying to steal the device back from her.

“Good job.” Anna giggled and somehow managed to turn around in Mike’s arms, the phone still in her hands. However, now that the game was on there was no way he would just let her get away with it, compliment for the pictures or not.

“You're welcome.” He smiled maliciously and started to tickle her, an evil deed he had to even out with kisses

“Mike!” Anna was squirming in his arms and somehow managed to protest between giggles and trying to catch her breath. “Stop it!”

“Mmm, nope.” As she still held on tightly to his phone and he was determined to win, he wouldn’t just let her go. Besides, he was already sure she’d get her revenge later tonight and sneak her icy hands under his hoodie when he was enjoying the perfect warmth of it.

“Mom? Dad?” But, to Anna’s luck and Mike’s disappointment, their game was interrupted by a small knock on the door seconds before Otis stepped into the room. Which didn't stop Mike from executing his masterplan and pulling on the string that held parts of Anna’s dress together, the perfect distraction to get his phone back as she needed both hands to tie the dress back together.

“Mom’s stolen Dad's phone.” Mike explained to their son while he could see Anna shaking her head out of the corner of his eye. “What do you need, Bear?”

“Can you play drums with me?” He held up the drumsticks he brought with him. “Please.”

“Why don't you go down to the studio and warm up? Dad needs to show Mom some pictures first, it shouldn't take long.” Happy with Anna’s suggestion, Otis nodded quickly and marched off before Mike realized his wife had just outsmarted him.

“Good move, Anna Shinoda, good move”, he grumbled and sat down on the carpet, slowly pulling the phone from his pocket. In the meantime, Anna snuggled up against his arm and rested her chin on his shoulder, looking up at Mike with a sweet smile. “Okay, you win.” Mike finally admitted with a smile and stole a quick kiss from Anna before handing her the phone. “However”, he added as he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her again, “I get to call this beautiful lady my wife, so I guess it's a win for me as well.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!


	4. Lights

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lights, or: Mike is once again working too much and Anna decides it’s time for some fun instead.

_September 2020_

_Come to the kitchen_. Plain text. Not a single emoji or any explanation to go with it. Now, Mike was sure there was no need for him to worry as Anna would’ve called him (via phone or the old-fashioned way: yelling on top of her lungs) if there was, but decided to hurry nonetheless. With a last look at the tracks he’d created over the past hours, cut and rearranged time and time again, he called it a night and followed his wife’s order.

It was late already, they’d put the kids to bed two hours ago, and after that they’d both wandered off to work on their respective projects. Or rather in favor of something else, liked the queen of procrastination did way too often, Mike guessed as he closed the studio door behind him and walked upstairs, taking two steps at a time.

 _For Mike_. Curiously, he picked up the folded piece of paper addressed at him which was decorated with a kiss made of dark lipstick and put partially under a glass of Rum. As he picked it up and took a sip from it, he came to the conclusion that it hadn’t been standing on the counter for very long, as the ice cubes hadn’t started to melt yet. Which left him wondering where Anna was and how she’d managed to sneak off without him noticing. _The game is on. You can pick one of the weapons I left behind the counter and then come find me. Good luck!_ ♥

„Anna…“ Shaking his head with a smile, Mike walked around the counter only to find their kids’ toy guns neatly put next to one another on the floor. “I won’t let you win this time.” With determination, he picked up one of the brightly colored toys, stuffed the soft bullets into his pockets and took another big sip of the drink his wife had left for him before walking out of the room. The light in the hallway was still on but considering Anna could stand in any dark corner, Mike switched it off to hide in the darkness. Being dressed in grey and black certainly helped because it gave him the feeling of becoming one with the shadows as he crept along the hallway, careful not to have the wood squeak beneath his feet.

The first stop of his search was the kids’ bedrooms, not to find Anna but to make sure they were fast asleep and not going to interrupt them and their little game. After that, he checked the bathroom and took special care in hiding behind the door as he expected Anna to jump out of the bathtub any second now.

 _Where are you?_ , he thought to himself, taking another look around the room before he returned to the hallway. One finger on the trigger, he could feel his heartbeat speed up as he got closer to their bedroom. This wasn’t the first time he was wandering through the house at night with a toy gun in his hand and in search for his wife. And last time she’d picked their bedroom as her hiding place. The most obvious of all rooms, which was why he’d of course made sure to look into every other one first.

_She was here. She had to be here, Mike thought as he wrapped his fingers around the door handle and pushed it down slowly. The other hand still on his gun, he leaned forward slightly to open the door just a tiny bit before releasing the handle again. It would be over any second now, he kept reminding himself as he went through his plan one last time. Push the door open. Hit the light switch. Find Anna before she could find him. Easy, right?_

_One last breath. Gripping the gun firmly with his right hand, Mike kicked the door open with one foot and used the motion to step into the room, all while his fingers reached for the light switch. But the brief feeling of victory faded rapidly the second he realized that Anna had apparently turned off electricity leading to their bedroom._ Always one step ahead _, he shook his head before recapping quickly. Electricity being gone was a strong indicator that she was here and luckily, he hadn’t been hit by a soft bullet so far, meaning he still had a chance to win. Slowly, as to not make unnecessary sounds that could give his exact location away, he took two steps into the room, his eyes fixed on their bed. Hiding behind it would be a possibility, but so would be-_

_“Drop your weapon.” Anna’s raspy voice, mixed with the feeling of cold plastic being pressed against his temple, made him freeze on the spot. “Was I not being clear enough?” Growing impatient with him, Anna put one hand on his shoulder and nudged him with the gun. “I said: Drop your weapon!” He’d lost. There was no way for him to get out of this situation as he knew he wouldn’t be able to hit her right away if he tried to turn around._

_“Yes Ma’am.” Letting go of his gun and hearing it land on the floor with a scattering noise, he slowly raised his arms above his head._

_“Move,” Anna ordered with another whisper, using the hand rested on his shoulder to push him forward, while Mike thought that at times it wasn’t that bad to be the one who lost._

She wasn’t here. Mike knew right away as he opened the door and the light switched on like he wanted. Besides, she wouldn’t use the same tactics twice and steal the light bulb again, would she? But if Anna wasn’t hiding here, where else could she be? His studio seemed unlikely, unless she managed to get into it while he’d been searching for her upstairs. Still, he decided to go to the ground floor just to check.

However, as soon as he’d reached the last step of the stairs something else caught his attention. The door to Anna’s office wasn’t completely closed with ominous red light shining out of the gap between door and frame. Of course she was here, why had he even bothered to look for her anywhere else? She’d even thanked him for the perfect villain lighting when he’d set up the color switching lights for her two days ago. To which he had first agreed and then taken the controls from her to switch the light to pastel tones that matched her light dress far better. And of course, Anna had to live up to her words and prove that she had a little devil living inside of her. Something Mike knew better than anyone else, but he certainly didn’t mind another proof of it.

With an excited grin, he approached the door, once again sneaking across the tiles and placing one finger on the trigger as he reached for the door and pushed it open.

“What took you so long?” And just like that, he’d lost again. In disbelief Mike stared at his wife who was sitting in her chair, legs rested on the desk, a glass of red wine in one hand and the toy gun pointed at him in the other. “I thought you’d be smarter.” Nodding slowly, he couldn’t help but stare at her. With her formfitting black dress, the lace tights and black heels she certainly looked like someone straight out of a James Bond movie. Adding finishing touches to her look with the dark lipstick and the curls he’d told her time and time again he loved, she’d certainly made sure to have the surprise on her side.

“On your knees.” Pointing the gun briefly towards the floor, Anna once again declared her victory while Mike thought about his options of turning the situation to his favor as he’d love to be the one who had her pinned against a wall - or the desk, he wasn’t picky when it came to that.

“I said: Kneel down!” Repeating her order in a far more demanding tone, Anna pulled the trigger and forced Mike to drop to the floor in order to avoid getting hit by the bullet. Plastic or not, this was about winning more than anything else. And he now had the bonus of Anna having to reload her gun, while he could hide behind her desk to use it as shield as he quickly crawled over to it before Anna had the chance to get him again.

“Coward.” He heard her giggle and the rustling sound indicated that she’d gotten up, a second before he heard footsteps moving to one side of the desk and he crawled to the other before jumping up again, his gun pointed at her.

“This game isn’t over, Milady.”

“Always the hopeful one.” As she rolled her eyes at him, he couldn’t help but be blown away by her. She’d truly mastered her role as femme fatale and if it wasn’t for his desire to win at least once, he’d most certainly surrender just to find out what else she’d thought about.

“Still talking like you’re the one in charge I see”, he matched her provocative tone and leaned a bit forward, resting his free hand on the desk.

“Am I not?” Mirroring his pose, they were now staring at each other from both sides of the desk, guns still pointed at one another, the red light added to the growing tension between them.

“No.” Without lowering his gun he stepped around the desk and made sure to keep Anna in his aim as he stopped in front of her. Her back now turned to the desk, she had her gun pressed against his chest, her dark eyes glowing as she looked up at him.

“Do you really think I’m scared of you?”, she asked with a sly grin. Of course she wasn’t, but that didn’t stop Mike from holding the toy gun just a bit closer to her head as he placed his free hand on the gun pointed at him.

“I’m in charge now.”

“Oh no.” Running her hand across his chest and along his arm until she could get hold of his gun, Mike did indeed find it a little more difficult to focus, especially with her looking up at him from beneath her eyelashes and moving yet another tiny bit closer. “No matter how much you deny it, I’ve won.”

“You’re forgetting that I still have my gun pointed at your head.” And he had his hand on hers, meaning he could simply pull it away and kiss Anna before she had the chance to fight back. Just the thought of it made his heart beat a little faster as he tightened his grip around Anna’s gun.

“Mommy? Daddy?” With a sigh, Mike closed his eyes and lowered his head before taking a step back and turning towards Abba, who was standing in the door, her blanket wrapped around her like a cape. The plushie pressed firmly against her chest, she stared at them with big eyes.

“What’s wrong?” Handing her gun over to Mike, Anna kneeled down in front of her.

“I can’t sleep,“ the girl stated, most likely having woken from a nightmare as Mike could see tears in the corner of her eyes. Now, however, the dream was long forgotten as there was something far more exciting to talk about. “What are you doing?”

“We…” The kids had their own version of this game that, much to their parents’ dismay, usually ended with someone crying. “Daddy and I are playing hide and seek with toy guns!”

“Oh!” She nodded excitedly. “Who is winning?”

“Mommy.”

“Daddy.”

“Hmm.” Not happy with the answer, Abba took another thorough look at both of them. “I think Mommy’s winning.”

“Why’s that?” The only winner here was Abba, Mike thought as he put down the guns on the desk and crouched down in front of the girl as well. After all, she was getting a night-time entertainment and her parents’ unshared attention.

“Mommy looks so cool!”, she explained with a clap and Mike agreed with her, even though _cool_ was pretty much the opposite of what he had in mind. “Daddy needs to dress up as well!”

“I agree, he could’ve at least put on a tie.”

“Or sunglasses,“ the girl shrugged before yawning.

“Okay, noted. Now off to bed with you, Princess.” With a laugh Mike picked up his daughter to carry her back upstairs, Anna following them after switching off the lights in her office.

“Hey Daddy.” Abba was whispering as she was placed back in her bed and once again covered with her blanket-cape by her father.

“Hmmm?”

“Don’t tell Mommy, but I think you would’ve won.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!


End file.
